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  • From: "Virginia Wiles" <vwiles AT sprynet.com>
  • To: corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Humility & status conventions
  • Date: Fri, 29 Jun 2001 19:44:17 -0400


I have spent considerable time working on Phil 2:3 myself, and agree that
it is a VERY difficult verse. I find it increasingly difficult to believe
that tapeinophrosune in Phil 2:3 means "humility"--certainly not
"humility" as usually understood; i.e., as a moral virtue concerning how
humans relate to one another. At most, it might be "humility" in relation
to God, i.e., "piety." But I wonder if the Philippians would have
understood it even in this fashion? Seems unlikely to me. I also doubt
that, given Paul's own use of the tapeino- wordgroup, that he understood
this word in the sense of a "moral virtue."

It is amazing how this one word in Phil 2:3 has so over-determined the
interpretation of the larger text. Somehow this one (quite rare) word
(found tucked away in a prepositional phrase attached to a participle,
which is attached to a subordinate clause, which depends upon the one
grammatical imperative in the passage--hardly a strong rhetorical
emphasis!) has become the "theme" of the whole text. Amazing! But what
if it simply doesn't mean what we think it means (and what the
post-Constantinian monastic tradition, especially Chrysostom, insisted it
meant)? Then, what might Phil 2:1-13 look like? That, at least, is the
question that I keep coming back to.

Two very useful articles are:

K. Thieme, "Die TAPEINOPHROSUNE Philipper 2 und Römer 12," ZNW 8 (1907)
9-33.
Ragnar Leivestad, "TAPEINOS - TAPEINOPHRON," NT 8 (1966) 36-47.

On Phil 2:3b, see especially Thieme (19-20) and B. Weiss, Der
Philipperbrief ausgelegt und die Geschichte seiner Auslegung (Berlin:
Hertz, 1859) 139. Thieme, especially, might be interesting to you on the
status issue. I accept the reading of 2:3b found in B and P46, which
makes huperechontas a substantival participle (referring to "leaders"; see
Rom. 13:1). Thus, I read Phil 2:3b as a reference specifically to
leadership/governance (and I relate this to politeuesthe in 1:27; also to
"bishops and deacons" in 1:1). You could take a look at my dissertation
on how I put all this together. Like many dissertations, it's not the
clearest thing I've ever written, but the basic contours are there. V.
Wiles, "From Apostolic Presence to Self-Government in Christ" Univ. of
Chicago, 1993 (Advisor: Hans Dieter Betz). I'm working on an article this
summer that deals with these issues to some extent, but of course that's
not yet available. I've also got a commentary on Philippians in the works
that will outline this interpretation (at the popular level).

Re the use of "military language" in Phil 1:27-30, although I am not
persuaded by E. Krentz's article where he argues that Phil 1:27-30 relies
heavily on specifically (or primarily) military language, I have pondered
the use of the tapeino- wordgroup in Judith, where one could argue that
"humbling themselves before God" was a part of what might be called a
"military" strategy against Holofernes. I've played a little with this,
but haven't convinced myself yet. Still, it might be fun to look at.

Just a note, I also do not see etapeinosen in Phil 2:8 as a reference to
"humility," rather to objective humiliation ("even to the point of death
on a cross"). The connection between the hymn and the exhortation is not
that of "humility" but rather between the suffering the Philippians are
presently experiencing (1:28-30) and the suffering/humiliation that Christ
experienced. The goal, then, is not to induce "humility," but to
en-courage the Philippians through enabling them to rejoice in the
progress of the Gospel (see esp. Phil 1:12-18 where Paul models this kind
of thinking for them re his own "suffering.")

I'll be eager to see your work. Best of luck!

Virginia Wiles
Assoc. Prof. of NT
New Brunswick Theological Seminary
New Brunswick, NJ
vwiles AT nbts.edu or vwiles AT sprynet.com




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